Earth
by Invader Lana
Summary: The Cluster is still traveling from system to system when the beast planet is once again spotted following them. They find a planet in the path of the beast and must attempt to save it. PyrusxOC, First fic ever so plz R
1. Return of the Beast

Disclaimer: I do not own Shadow Raiders :( I do however own Liranné

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CHAPTER 1: Return of the Beast

Pyrus and Zera were positively bored. They sat silently on board the Aurora, absolutely nothing for them to amuse themselves with. There hadn't been any sign of the beast in weeks since Sternum had teleported it away, this was a completely unexpected turn around for the Alliance and it left them with nothing to do but rebuild everything they had lost. They had watched disappointedly as Cryos, Graveheart boarded a Bladewing and set off toward planet rock to visit Jade, leaving them behind to watch over planet Ice from the Aurora. Femur and Sternum were on planet Bone doing god only knows what while Tekla, Voxx and Zuma remained on planet Ice to relax and get away from politics for a while Zera sighed heavily, they had already done everything they could think of for fun, even insulting each other to death as they usually did. The only thing left to do was exactly what they were doing now, staring into space. The only time either of them said something was when they were calling one of the servants for a drink refill.

There was a loud slurping sound from next to her and she sighed again. "Honestly Pyrus, you know that annoys the hell out of me. Why do you insist on doing it?"

Pyrus turned his head slightly toward Zera and slurped again. Zera's antennae flattened against her head and Pyrus laughed, "I do it for exactly that reason!"

"That is extremely out of character for you Pyrus." Zera shook her head slowly.

"Hey, someone has to find something for us to do around here. Annoying you is the best I've come up with so far." Pyrus ducked as Zera threw a punch at him, "awe, c'mon, I'm so bored and I've even run out of things to argue with you about, we have to find something to do soon."

Zera sat back in her seat and rested her chin in her hand, "For once, Lava head, I must agree with you." She shook her head in disbelief at the words that had just escaped her mouth, "should we go for a walk then? See if we can find something to do?" she stood up in front of Pyrus with one hand on her hip.

Pyrus shook his head, "I've been sitting still for so long now I don't think I'll ever regain the energy to stand let alone walk." Zera merely looked down at the lethargic Prince and shook her head again.

As Zera sat back down in her seat, an alarm sounded from behind her. "What's going on?" she asked in a hopeful sort of way. Maybe they were being attacked again or maybe they were on a collision course. Normally these thoughts would have been terrifying to the young Prince and Princess but today, even these events would be exciting.

"Our scanners appear to have picked up on the presence of a planet or asteroid ahead of us," a technician replied, "It is in a position that is potentially dangerous to the cluster. What would you have us do?"

Zera stood dumbfounded; she had never been asked to make a decision like this before. She knew avoiding a collision was vital but she just couldn't find the confidence to answer as her father would. Pyrus saw that her brain had sort of frozen and took charge in stead, "open a communications line with Queen Jade on planet Rock, we have to warn the rest of the alliance about the obstacle so that they can prevent a collision." The technician nodded and obliged. Soon Jade's palace swarmed into view upon the communications screen with Jade herself in the center. On either side of her, Graveheart and Cryos could be seen sitting comfortably with their hands folded on the table.

"Yes?" Jade answered the call with a tone of great annoyance in her voice. Pyrus and Zera immediately knew they had caught them in the middle of something Jade considered important but they could not figure out what it was.

"Forgive us for the interruption Jade but we have a matter of great importance which we need to discuss immediately." Zera announced.

Cryos looked panicked and immediately spoke up, "Zera, Did something happen? Are you and Pyrus alright?" Jade put a hand on the Ice King's back to calm him and he regained his composure.

"We're fine father, really. We have however picked up scans of an obstacle ahead of us that looks to be an asteroid or possibly a planet." Zera reported.

"We thought the rest of the alliance should know right away so that we can change course and ensure there are no collisions." Pyrus finished.

Jade nodded her head, "I will send word to planets Bone and Ice immediately to change course. Thank you for your warning." She was about to end the call when there was a sudden jolt aboard the Aurora and everyone on board was flung forward. Zera and Pyrus smacked their heads together, earning a shriek from Zera from both the impact and contact with the being of fire.

"Is everyone alright?" Graveheart spoke up.

"Well, I'm okay. Princess Zera looks a little beaten though." Pyrus chuckled, staring at the place on the floor where Zera had fallen. Zera merely glared up at him with her arms crossed as though it was his fault that this had happened. "We seem to have taken a bit of a hit as well," he continued, looking down at a screen to read damage reports, "the Aurora's shields are only working at fifty percent. What could have hit us hard enough to cause such damage?"

As if on queue, a swarm of ships passed by the Aurora. Everyone immediately recognized them. "Beast Drones!" both Pyrus and Zera yelled.

"What?" Graveheart practically jumped out of his seat, "You can't be serious!" Jade and Cryos looked too stunned to move.

The fire from the beast ships once again began to rain down upon them. "How in the blazes did they find us?" Pyrus wondered aloud.

"Who cares? Let's just get rid of them before they destroy us!" Zera panicked. The ships weapons were immediately brought online and Pyrus took a position at one of the controls. "Finally, some action!" Pyrus cried out. Zera shook her head at him and set to work on the scanners, looking for any sign of the rest of the Beast Armada.

The Aurora's weapons locked in on the Beast drones nearby and one by one, they were destroyed. "By the Glacier!" Cryos muttered from his place beside Jade, "Does this mean the Beast planet has caught up to us again?"

"Perhaps that mystery object ahead of us is the Beast planet?" Jade suggested.

"No, it's not." Zera reported, "I have found it on the sensors coming up from behind us again."

"All the same, we should still check out the obstacle in front of us to see if it does support life. If so, we have to warn them about the coming of the Beast." Graveheart stated.

"Agreed." Replied Jade and Cryos, Pyrus and Zera nodded in agreement.

"Well," began Zera, "I guess I'd better contact Tekla to ask her if she can confirm if it is in fact a planet and if it does have life on it. I'll tell her to change course of planet Ice while I'm at it." Her father nodded his head in approval and Zera ended the call and began a connection with planet Ice.

"I'm going to go for a walk around the ship now." Pyrus stated.

"Oh, now you want to walk!" Zera snapped at him inn a playful way, "too good to walk with me?"

"Yes." Pyrus replied, a huge grin plastered to his face. He ran out of the room before Zera had the chance to throw something at him.

Zera turn back to the communication screen and Tekla answered the call a few moments later, Voxx floating just behind her and Zuma meditating in the background. "Zera, hello, how are you?" Tekla greeted her.

"Not so great I'm afraid. I have some bad news," Zera sighed, "it seems that once again the Beast planet is on our tails." Tekla looked sick as soon as she heard the word 'Beast' and shut her eyes tightly. Zuma stopped meditating and slowly walked over to join Tekla at the screen.

"How is that possible? We teleported it along with the prison planet only weeks ago. How is it that is has found us and caught up again?" Tekla sounded sickly and looked as though she was about to cry.

"Obviously it was not teleported far enough away. There isn't much we can do but try to outrun it again." Zera replied, "There is also something blocking the path of our planets up ahead that we need to steer clear of. It looks as though it's another planet. We were wondering if you could scan it for life and to see if it has world engines like ours."

Tekla sat down in the seat closest to her and began to press buttons, bringing up images on a screen. "The planet is supporting life, I have also found world engines but it is surrounded by magma. The only way to access it safely is via telepod."

"We'd better call a meeting for all of the planet leaders then. I'll call father back and see if he can arrange for Femur and Sternum to meet us on planet Rock. Thank you Tekla." And with that, Zera ended the call and set out to find Pyrus and tell him the news.

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"AGAIN?" Femur had just learned of the Beast planet's return, "How did this happen? I thought the big Beasty was transported to another part of the universe!"

"So did us Toad, just sit down and shut up." Jade grumbled. She had been in the same room as Femur for only a few minutes now and already she was irritated. Zera was so sick of this that she had completely spaced off and was in her own little world.

"The planet was teleported away Femur but somehow they've found us again. We have to find a way to ensure our safety and attempt to save the people on the planet we've recently found." Graveheart stated.

"Why should we care what happens to that mud ball?" Femur complained, leaning back inn his chair.

"Well how would you like it if we left you and your people to face the Beast alone? We don't even know how advanced the technology on this planet is, they may have something we can use to defend ourselves against the Beast." Cryos replied, clearly annoyed with Femur already. Sternum rolled his eyes at how careless his brother could be at times before speaking.

"I suggest we try to open a communications line with the leaders of this planet to see exactly what sort of beings we are dealing with here. We don't want to try to land on the planet and get shot out of the skies." The other monarchs nodded in agreement.

Tekla moved to the communications screen over on the other side of the room, closely followed by Graveheart and Cryos. "I looked earlier for some form of communications device that we would be able to contact the people of this planet on. There is only one frequency the same as one of ours but I do not know if it will contact the leaders."

"It's worth a shot" Graveheart said quietly from behind her. Tekla pressed a final button to begin the call and after a few moments a tall man appeared on the screen. He had a similar sort of appearance to the people of planet rock although made of something softer looking and his hair was more like fur. He was wearing a black suit and dark glasses.

"Who is this?" he asked in a deep, menacing voice, "what do you want?"

Cryos stepped forward "I am King Cryos, ruler of planet Ice. I wish to speak to your planet leader; it is a matter of great importance."

The man on the screen chuckled a little, "Oh man, that's the best one I've heard since I took this crummy job. Look sir, we don't take kindly to prank calls here alright? Heh, planet Ice…" he cut the call.

Tekla, Graveheart and Cryos all walk back to where they had been sitting earlier. Once everyone was seated again, Pyrus spoke up, "So, does this mean we get to go on a scouting mission?" Zera sprang back to life at that moment with a look of hope and excitement on her face. Graveheart nodded, "We'll have to find someone who will believe us and let us save their planet." Pyrus and Zera grinned at each other for a moment. The boredom was finally over.

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A/N – so there's chapter one of my first ever fic….. Fixed it up and now its like twice as long! YAY! Chapter 2 should be soon. Please R&R and tell me what you think :)

Love You All!


	2. Liranné

Disclaimer: I do not own Shadow Raiders :( I do however own Liranné

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Chapter 2: Liranné

Liranné had been lying on the cool green grass for hours now just staring at the stars that surrounded planet Earth. It had been yet another absolutely exhausting and stressful day for her at school and she needed desperately to unwind. All of her assignments were due on the same day and she had to sit three of her seven exams on that day also. After long and stressful days such as these, Liranné found it helpful to just lie on the grass under the night sky and think of anything but reality. She would often fantasize about meeting other races of the universe and leaving this world of anger, pain and war behind her.

Liranné was in dream land for almost every second she wasn't working, visualizing the events that she so wanted to happen in her mind. Amidst her current thoughts she heard a faint ringing of the phone back inside the house. This snapped her out of her thoughts instantly and all she could do was give a murderous glare in the direction of the phone. When it didn't stop ringing, Liranné stood slowly and walked slowly back into the house to answer it. Before answering it she looked at the caller ID to see who it was. She rolled her eyes when she saw the name Paige on the screen and then, reluctantly, answered it.

"Hello?" she asked softly into the phone.

"Lira! It's Paige, how are you?" her friend greeted her with so much enthusiasm. Lira gently pushed her copper blonde hair out of her bright green eyes and off her face and forced a smile, even though she knew Paige could not see her.

"I'm absolutely exhausted Paige, school just really took it out of me today but otherwise I'm fine. How are you?" Paige had been Liranné's best friend since about a year before when her parents had died in a horrific car accident. Paige had stood by Liranné as she spoke at their funeral and she had been there whenever Liranné needed something, and for this she was ever grateful.

"I'm okay now. I was so worried when you left for home so quickly after school. I thought you must have been sick or something so I called to check up on you." Paige replied, sounding greatly relieved. Liranné made her way over to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of juice.

"Well that is very nice of you," she walked back over to the bench and poured the juice into a glass, "I just thought I'd catch the bus home today so that I didn't have to walk to far being as tired as I am."

"Oh, well I'm just glad you're not sick." Paige said cheerfully.

"Thanks Paige. Listen, I have to go now. I need a good night's sleep before another day at school tomorrow." Liranné said slowly, wanting desperately to go back to her spot on the grass outside.

"Alright then, I'll see you tomorrow Lira. Bye!"

"Bye Paige." Liranné hang up the phone and made her way back outside with her glass of juice in her hand. She sat down again in the middle of the yard and once again thought of what mysteries lay beyond her world.

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"We're entering the planet's atmosphere." Cryos stated as he, Graveheart, Pyrus and Zera made their way down to the planet's surface in Cryos' Bladewing. Zera was excited by the fact that they were discovering a new life form that was capable of who knows what. She was constantly shifting around in her seat and this was really annoying Pyrus, who had been unfortunate in being seated next to her. The two had not spoken a word since leaving the Aurora. Cryos and Graveheart, however, had been chatting away about numerous things such as the Beast planet returning, how Jade was coping as a Queen and topics like that.

"Finally," came the annoyed voice of Pyrus from behind Cryos, "Zera's constant moving around is really getting on my nerves."

"If you don't like it, MOVE!" Zera snapped. Pyrus recoiled slightly at Zera's sudden outburst.

"Zera! Do not speak to Pyrus in that manner! I thought I taught you better." Cryos scolded his daughter.

"Sorry father" Zera sighed.

Graveheart chuckled, "Don't worry Pyrus; we'll be landing in the next couple of minutes."

Cryos looked over to his friend looking rather concerned "We do not know where the best place to land is. We need to find somewhere that is not likely to be inhabited by too many people so that we don't cause a panic and we need to land in a place where we can find someone willing to listen to us."

"Well we can't know for sure where there are people who will help or even whether there are any on this entire planet. We'll just have to take a chance landing somewhere and asking the first person we find for help." Graveheart said solemnly.

After a few moments they came across a wide field just outside a small town. The only thing occupying the field was a single house.

"Here's as good a place as any" Graveheart said as they drew closer to it. He prepared the ship for landing and took it down, landing in the middle of the field. Zera was having a very hard time trying to sit still now and looked as though she was about to have a seizure. Pyrus noticed this and could only snicker.

"What?" she demanded.

"It's just funny how excited you are, were you this bad when you met the Sun people?"

Zera shook her head and stood up. As she did so she looked out the window of the craft and noticed a figure standing there. "Father, it looks like one of the creatures that live on this planet has come to greet us."

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Lying on the grass, Lira saw a strange light in the sky above her. '_A satellite?'_ She thought to herself as she sat up slightly to get a better look. After staring at it for what to her felt like forever, she realized that it was getting closer and closer and that it was most definitely not a satellite. As it came even closer she noticed that it was a blue colour and that it had jets on either side of it at the back. '_An alien ship?'_ She thought as she stood slowly and began to walk in the direction of the projected landing point. Lira picked up the pace to a run as the ship neared the ground and landed. This was absolutely amazing! She had never seen anything like this in her entire life. She was actually going to meet aliens.

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"She looks… scared" Pyrus commented as all four of them peered curiously out of the window at the tiny person standing on the ground outside the craft.

"She doesn't appear to be carrying a weapon." Cryos reported.

"I think we should go out there and say hello." Zera stated, bouncing up and down again. Graveheart gave Cryos a nod as if to say he agreed with Zera and all of them stood and made their way off the ship.

Zera made her way off the craft first, closely followed by Pyrus. They stood staring at the young girl in front of them, wondering what they should say to her and if she even spoke their language. Pyrus stared straight into the girl's emerald green eyes; a look of astonishment filled them. Obviously she had never met anyone beyond her world before. Pyrus gave her a warm smile to try and make her feel more comfortable, and shyly, she returned it. Zera was positively delighted that she would have another girl to talk to, and she didn't look too old either; possibly late teens. Maybe she wouldn't have to keep talking to that darned Prince Pyrus anymore. Cryos and Graveheart came out of the ship at that moment and walked forward to address the girl but were beaten to it by Zera.

"Hello," Zera said politely as she took a few steps toward the girl, "My name is Zera, and this is my father King Cryos, ruler of planet Ice," Cryos nodded, "Graveheart of planet Rock," Graveheart smiled, "and Prince Pyrus of planet Fire," Pyrus waved. The girl stared at Pyrus for a moment before Zera asked "what's your name?"

The girl stood still for a moment as though she had completely forgotten how to talk, but the replied softly, "Liranné, but my friends call my Lira." She smiled ever so slightly looking very shy and a little scared, "Why have you come to Earth?"

"Is that what this planet is called?" Cryos asked.

"Yes." Lira replied, almost shocked that Cryos hadn't known that.

"We've come to warn your people of a menace that has threatened our worlds, the Beast planet," Graveheart began, "It consumes planets in its path and we fear your world may be next." At this point Lira looked terrified.

"So, umm, what do you want me to do? I'm just a 17 years old girl, I can't really help you. It's the government you want to talk to." Lira said, sounding distressed.

"We tried to talk to them, they wouldn't listen" Cryos spoke up, "we were hoping to find someone who could help us get to the world engines and move this planet out of the Beast's path and offer its people a place in the alliance."

"And so what if your only 17? So am I!" Pyrus spoke up, "I'm the ruler of an entire planet and my people are doing just fine."

"Besides the fact that they live on planet Rock's battle moons" Zera giggled, earning a glare from Pyrus.

"Thanks for reminding me," he muttered.

"World engines? Battle moons? How about you come inside and we can talk about this a bit more, I'm starting to get a bit dizzy and I'd like to sit down." All of the others nodded in agreement and they all began to follow Lira back to her house.

"So are your parents here too?" Graveheart asked trying to make conversation.

"Umm, no… I've lived by myself since last year when they…" She trailed off.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Graveheart began before Lira raised a hand to silence him. "It's ok, really," she forced a smile.

"I know how you must feel," Pyrus spoke up, "my parents are dead too, and my Grand Vizier, the person who brought me up after they died was killed along with my planet not too long ago."

"I'm so sorry" Lira whispered. Pyrus just smiled at her again.

After Lira looked away again, Pyrus deemed it safe to stare at her again. He took in the sight of her, her pale skin, her golden hair, her brilliant green eyes and her soft voice. Zera noticed the look on Pyrus's face as he watched Lira and chuckled quietly, the young Prince had been on this planet barely five minutes and he was already crushing on this girl. Pyrus heard her subtle laugh and gave her a quizzical look.

Once they reached the house, Lira stepped inside and motioned for them all to gather in the living room. "So this is where you live?" Graveheart asked, looking around curiously.

"Yes, it's not much but its home. I inherited it from my parents as well as all of their money so I can live comfortably here until I graduate from school and get a job." Lira replied. Zera walked over to the television, "this is a strange sort of communications screen. How do you get it to work?"

Lira smiled and explained, "Its not a communications screen, it's a television, a form of entertainment on Earth. Basically it plays videos of actors pretending to be other people and being stupid for other people's amusement."

"You mean like holo-vids?" Pyrus suggested. Lira looked at him with an expression of confusion across her face and pressed the power button. Zera just stared directly at it.

"Uhh, moving on," She quickly made a conversation before she got distracted by the television, "this Beast planet, you say it consumes worlds?"

"Yes, and unfortunately your world is the next in its path unless we can move it." Cryos said as he sat down in one of the couches with Graveheart sitting down beside him.

"So," Lira said as she took the armchair while Pyrus and Zera took the other couch, "is this where the world engines come into play?"

"Yes," Graveheart replied quickly, "we have to find the Telepod which will allow us to teleport to the engines in the centre of your world. Once there we can activate them and move the planet along with our worlds to escape the Beast.

Lira sat quietly staring at the floor. This was a lot to take in all at once but she knew she had to keep it together for the sake of her planet and its people, she could freak out about it later. She took a deep breath and looked back to Cryos and Graveheart.

"Any idea where to find it?"

"We were kind of hoping you could tell us" Graveheart replied, shaking his head.

Lira bit her lip and shook her head; she looked over to Pyrus and Zera. Zera still had her eyes glued to the television screen but Pyrus was staring at her. All she could do was stare back for a moment at the being of fire. It was amazing to see these creatures from other worlds but there was something special about Pyrus, Lira didn't know what it was but she was drawn to him for some reason. She quickly snapped herself out of her trance and addressed Cryos and Graveheart again.

"Well if you're certain that the engines are there you must have checked that somehow right?"

"We did a scan of your entire planet" Cryos replied.

"Well then why can't you scan for the Telepod?" Lira asked, "I only ask because I have no idea where to find such a thing."

"Well, I can contact Tekla and ask her to try that." Graveheart said, sounding a little uplifted. He pressed a button on the comm. Device on his wrist and a new voice was heard.

"Graveheart, my friend, how goes the mission so far?"

"Pretty good at the moment Tekla, we've found someone willing to help us but we need to know if you would be able to scan the planet for the Telepod, we have no other way of finding it."

"Well I will try but I cannot make any promises. I'll send you what I find as soon as I am done."

Lira listened to the conversation for the first second or two but then zoned out again, subconsciously staring at the Prince again. She noticed he had gorgeous eyes, blue with flame-like colours in the middle. It made sense as he was a being of fire but that did not change the fact that it was amazing. It wasn't until Pyrus waved a hand in front of her face that she realized she had been staring at him.

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A/N - Ok sorry this one took so long to get up. I'm in my final term of year 12 and I'm having a lot of time off sick so you can imagine I'm stressing. Ill try to get another chapter up soon but please don't hate me for being so late. Also I know this chapter isn't the best but I just can't pick out where I went wrong, pointers are more then welcome.

Thanks for reading! *HUGZ*


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